Measurement is Not Counting: Social Media & Return on Investment, presented by Beth Kanter

You are actively using Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or a blog as part of your organization’s marketing or fundraising strategy. But do you know what your audience wants from you? Are you measuring how effective you are with these tools? Can you answer your boss’s or board’s questions about the value of spending time on social media? How do you know social media is a good investment and that you are getting strong results? Beth’s session addresses how to measure social media return on investment, including a strong framework and practical tips to measure and refine your social media tactics.

If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

These are different levels of nonprofit social media practice –They go from beginner to advanceAs you move up and through different levels, you need to invest more time, but you get more returns

Let’s look at the model in terms of tools that you might use at each level …..Ask how many using what tools for each ..

Our social media strategy focuses on brand awareness and engagement and is part of an integrated communications strategy. We spend time identifying and building relationships with super-advocates online and engage them — similar to the way you engage major donors or champion advocacy constituents. “but we are seeing social media become very important in helping with public policy efforts – like the recent Child Nutrition Bill. We saw a lot of interest and click thrus from Twitter particularly.” They used Google Analytics to see where traffic is coming from specifically to their advocacy pages surrounding the bill and looked at Twitter retweets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rg-b/3243840206/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17657816@N05/1971826491/sizes/l/in/photostream/ResultsIncrease website traffic by 25% by adding social media content starting posting by November 1, 2012. Acquire 100 new donors through Facebook Causes by June 30, 2012Increase email list sign ups through social media channels by 500 names by June 30, 2012Increase the number of gallery visitors who purchase (in person or online) by 20% by June 30, 2012Increase online and print mentions by 25% by June 30, 2012Increase enrollment in classes and workshops by 50% by June 30, 2012Increase exhibition visitors by 15% by June 30, 2012TacticalIncrease audience connections through Facebook to 1000 by June 1, 2012.Increase our month to month Post Feedback on Facebook by 25% on average.Increase mentions by 20% on Twitter before, during, and after performances for 2011Increase views on YouTube Channel by 50% by January, 2012Increase number of retweets and @replies on Twitter by 20% by September, 30, 2011Recruit 40 organizations to join our LinkedIn organization page by June 30, 2012Increase web site traffic from Facebook by 20% by September 30, 2012Utilize Facebook to increase Festival attendance and online program views by 5% by September 2011Identify top 25 influencers on Twitter to build relationships to help blog, repost, and spread the word about online program by September, 30, 2012Increase the age/ethincity/gender/income/geographic of Facebook fans by 20% by June 30, 2012CapacityCreate video trailers for all productions garnering an average of 100 views per trailer for the 2011-2012 programs.Integrate social media across organization staff and departments to use it reach goals by 2012Conduct an audience survey to determine where to expand, grow, and diversify social media presence for 2012Create one video per month to tell stories about the impact of our organization by January, 2012.Recruit 40 organizationStaff members in membership, fundraising, communications, and marketing departments will use social media tools to engage audiences on Facebook page 3 times per week.Conduct surveys at the end of every class and workshop to gather important audience social media usage data and experience with program by June 2012Enhance visual storytelling capacity and diversify type of content shared with a goal increasing videos by 10%, photos by 20% photographic and text that stimulates comments by 20% by August 1, 2012 Create a presence and support active fans on social fundraisings Jumo, Crowdrise, and Change.org by September 30, 2012Create a system to collect, aggregate, and share user generated content on social media by audiences by September 30, 2012

Benchmarking is the process of comparing your organization’s practices and results with a group of peer organizations. It can be an informal study and simple to do. You identify a list of similar organizations and collect specific metrics to compare. You can gather publicly available data or do a survey with a free tool like Google Forms.Sometimes benchmarking studies can be more rigorous and survey a field. Take for example, the NTEN Social Network 2011 Benchmarking Study or the Digital IQ Study of Government Sites.Benchmarking, whether an informal or extensive research study, can be an incredibly valuable exercise because the numerical analysis can help you craft realistic measurable objectives. And, the process of observing even 10 other similar organizations social media practices can give you lots of good ideas if you approach with discipline.Devon’s benchmarking study collected social media data from a survey of 2o7 arts organizations, referred by participants in Track 2. Devon summarized the data in the above presentation.

Set up a google group. Self-organized. Build a list of tags on both sides – pro/opposition. (1) Shared listeningOpposition Research Listening to what they are saying, how they are saying it. -to discuss tweets-special language-action – asked other organizations to retweet -Social media call to discuss what they were each doing. Realized that none of the groups were doing anything effectively alone. We discovered that most of the groups didn’t know where to start. A lot them didn’t have Twitter, no idea what hash tags. We were starting at a basic level.

donations, leads, new subscribers, increased page rank,Interaction ReputationLoyaltySatisfactionSentimentFeedbackInsights about what worksDonationsLeadsSubscribersMembersSaved Time Saved CostsIncreased page rankSigned petitionsCalls or emails to government officials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ANboUjG6GQ&amp;feature=player_embeddedFacebook has become a forum to get people’s questions answered about public healthIf someone asks a question, and they didn’t get to it in time – other people answer itBooking an appointment, couldn’t make it appointment, taking two weeksAsking people for advicePaying attentionQuestion about the two different types of flu vacines ..Person answered, manager put a clarifying answer onTwitter: Helpful, esp. with h1n1 – real-time input – real time conversation, get people’s updates fastConversation – re: h1n1 – help me understand why it is so much more dangerous than regular flu?Helpful to reach reporters – first day h1n1 – fox 13 was camped outside city clinic – getting people to go another clinicReporter had tweeted he was sitting outside at one – and she suggested an alternativeSee you thereDid not take any effort

Rewards learning and reflectionTry it and fix it approach – fail fastAppreciates individuality and that does not indicate a lack of professionalism or caringTrusts staff to make decisions and respond rapidlyIt is more important to try something new, and work on the problems as they arise, than to figure out a way to do something new without having any problems.”

Photo by Lab2112http://www.flickr.com/photos/lab2112/387401503/For the past five years, I’ve been asking nonprofits on surveys to tell me stories about how social media provides value to their organization. It has always been the most disappointing part of the survey results – because people don’t answer or not enough stories.I’m pleased to report that here in Seattle – it wasn’t the case. There were so many wonderful stories that it was hard for me to pick just a few … and if I call out your organization – I hope you will come to the mic and answer a few questions …

Transcript of "Measurement is Not Counting: Social Media & Return on Investment, presented by Beth Kanter"

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Measurement is Not CountingPrinciples for Social Media and ROI<br />Beth Kanter<br />

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Goals:1. To promote Independent Sector with “non-attending audiences” through attendees’ social media mentions2. To capture summaries of the 2010 conference to show the richness of the content as a means to promote the event for 20113. To test pilot social media at the conference and to capture lessons learned and ideas for future social media efforts<br />Metrics for Success1. Seven bloggers and seven Tweeters are identified and recruited to cover the event2. Content from seven sessions is posted to the IS blog or other blogs3. The number of retweets using the hashtag #ISconf increases from 20094. The team gains social media experience and insights about social media practice <br />WALK<br />

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Results<br />Acquire 100 new donors through social media channels by June 30, 2012<br />Tactical Increase likes and comments with fans on Facebook to 3 comments per post by June 30, 2012<br />Capacity<br />Create one video per month to tell stories about the impact of our organization by January, 2012.<br />Integrate social media across organization staff and board to use it reach goals by September 30, 2012<br />Examples: SMART Social Media Objectives<br />

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Intent: Raise brand awareness<br />Objective: By December, 2011, we will increase the number of Fans who "Like" us on Facebook by 500 <br />What’s your current baseline: How many Fans does you have now? <br />Compare To: Peer Organization Benchmark Median Number of FB Fans: 1600 per peer benchmarking study<br />

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Wisdom of the Crowds Meets Person-to-Person Fundraising<br />To convert 10% of Facebook fans into Spay Day Donors on Spay Day<br />To raise $500,000 from Spay Day donors on Spay Day<br />To get 5000 people to enter the Spay Day photo contest<br />

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Translate Value Into Financial<br />More timely and accurate public health messaging communities. and more efficient use of staff time<br />Booking appointments<br />Answering public health questions<br />Less time on phone or other channels<br />More effective services to audienceAccurate and timely health information, less spreading of diseaseMore timely customer service in answering questions, booking appointmentsGenerates positive word of mouth<br />Ease of communication with journalists <br />More press coverage, less staff timeLess paper, less email<br />

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“People regard our program as honest and informative. After almost two years on the social media front, we’ve developed a good system to get timely and accurate public health messaging to our communities. We firmly believe that our presence on social media sites has really enhanced our communication with the media and public.<br />Executive Director, Gary Edwards said it best in our 2010 Annual Report; that during tough economic times, SLVHD rose to the occasion and found innovative, cost effective ways to communicate with our community. “ - VannaLivaditis, New Media Coordinator<br />

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You want me to Tweet and measure it too? And Track my time?<br />Track your time, don’t waste it …<br />

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Translate into numbers ……<br /><ul><li>Compare the total costs </li></ul>of different solutions<br /><ul><li>Compare the total costs </li></ul>with the value<br /><ul><li>Compare the costs </li></ul>of not doing the project <br /><ul><li>Identify pilot goal to identifycost/benefit</li></li></ul><li>Share Pairs: Identify the value of your social media strategy. What are the tangibles? Intangibles? What are the costs? <br />

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ROI Storytelling: System for collecting stories not in the charts and numbers<br />

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Conclusion<br />Social media measurement goes hand in hand with good practice<br />Social media measurement is a discipline, not a task, and it needs to be part of the organization’s culture<br />Measure along the continuum of value and share results<br />There’s a big need for improvement of practice and sharing the measurement stories<br />